Watchman s electric time-detector



(No Model.)

H. L. NORTON & P. w. COOK. WATCHMA-NS ELECTRIC TIME DETECTOR.

No. 417,501. Patented Dec. 17, 1889. C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY L. NORTON, OF UKIAH, AND FREDERICK WV. COOK, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

WATCHMANS ELECTRIC TIME-DETECTOR.

SIEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 417,501, dated December 17, 1889.

Application filed April 10, 1889. Serial No. 306,721. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY L. NORTON, of Ukiah, of the county of Mendocino, State of California, and FREDERICK W. COOK, of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Watchmens Time-Detectors; and we hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Our invention relates generally to that class of time-detectors for Watchmen in which an alarm'at a given point or central station is sounded by the closing of an electric circuit, said closing being effected by means of a circuit-closer located at the watchmans station or stations and operated by means of a time-piece, and our invention relates particularly to that class of these devices in which the sounding of the alarm is indicative of the failure of the watchman to attend to his duty at given times, said alarm being prevented by an act of the watchman when he is attending to his duty.

Our invention consists in the novel means for automatically closing the electric circuit to sound the alarm and of preventing the closing of said circuit by the act of the watchman in the course of his duty, as we shall hereinafter fully describe.

The object of our invention is to provide a simple and effective device of this character adapted to be readilyattached to any timepiece.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of our invention, the figure is an elevation of a timepiece, the dial being partly broken away to show the within-lying parts.

We have not deemed it necessary to show the alarm at the central station, nor the complete circuit thereto, it being SllffiOlQllt fOl the purpose of understanding our invention to illustrate and describe the circuit maker and breaker at a single station which the watchman is required to visit at given periods. A is a time-piece here shown as a clock and supposed to be located at one of the watchmans stations.

B is the minute-hand arbor of the clock,

and upon this arbor is firmly secured a disk C, so that the disk rotates with the arbor,

making a complete revolution once every hour. Carried upon the face of this disk are the contact-lugs D. These are located quartering of the disk, so that one represents every fifteen minutes. They are pivoted at (Z to the disk, so that they are enabled to swing by gravity to proper positions, and their movement is limited by means of pins d in the face of the disk, one of said pins holding them in vertical position and the other of said pins allowing them to drop.'

E is a contact-spring, which is secured suit ably within the time-piece, and is properly insulated from the mechanism thereof, so that it forms one of the electrodes of the circuit, the contact-lugs forming the other electrode.

F are the circuit-wires, one of which is connected with the mechanism of the clock in such a manner as to include the contact-lugs D, and the other is carried to the insulated contact-spring E. Now it will be seen that as the disk rotates with the minute-hand arbor of the clock the contact-lugs D are brought around successively into contact with the spring E, thereby closing the circuit every fifteen minutes and sounding the alarm at the central station. As each lug passes the vertical top center and slips its contact with the spring it drops by gravity to the illner limiting-pin, in which position it remains until it is past the lower vertical center, when it drops again by gravity to the outer limit ing-pin, and remains in this position until it reaches the top, it being then in a vertical position and adapted to come in positive contact with the spring.

Now, in order to prevent the alarm from being sounded when the watchman is attending to his duty, we have the following mechanism for preventing the contact of the electrodes: This is effected by means of a lever G, pivoted at g to the frame-work of the clock mechanism. The end of this lever is provided with an inwardly-extending pin g which is adapted to come in contact with the top of the pivoted contact-lugs D, and the end of the lever is also provided with an in sulatedpiece g which is adapted to come in contact with the contact-spring E. This lever is held normally away by means of a spring g and it is thrown into operation by means of a vertical rod H, the upper end of which engages an arm of the lever, and the lower end of which passes outwardly through the bottom of the clock-casing, and is provided with a button h. A spring h holds the spindle up to its highest position, thereby allowing the lever to move back under its own spring to an unoperative position.

Now, when the watchman isattending to his duty and is due at the station herein described at a certain time, and when he arrives upon time, which is a little before the circuit would be automatically closed, he grasps the button h and draws down the rod II. This movement of the rod moves the lever G inwardly, so that its pin g coming in contact with the pivoted lug D, and its insulated piece g coming in contact with the spring E, throws said lug over to a recumbent position at the same time that it raises the spring,.thereby completely avoiding the contact of the two electrodes and enabling the pivoted contactlug to pass bythe spring without touching it. Therefore the alarm is not sounded, which shows that the watchman is attending strictly to his duty; but if he is not attending to his duty, and for any reason does not arrive 011 time at the station at which he is due, the circuit is closed, as heretofore described, and the alarm is sounded at the central station.

In order to prevent the watchman from pulling down and tying the rod II so that the lever G will hold the contact-spring E away, thereby avoiding the closing of the circuit and failing to indicate his neglect of duty, we have a second contact-spring I, electrically connected with spring E. Against this spring I an insulating-tip j on the end of an arm J of lever G is adapted to come in contact, so as to throw the free end of said spring into the path of the revolving contact-lugs D. There fore, it the watchman should tie the rod II down with a view to rendering the device i11- operative, his action would be detected by completing the circuit through lug D and spring I.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a watchmans time-detector and in combination with the rotating arbor or shaft of a time-piece, a disk mounted upon and carried by said arbor, a contact-lug carried by said disk, a contact-spring with which the lug isadapted to form electrical connection, an electric circuit of which the lug and the spring form electrodes, and a movable piece acting on the electrodes to avoid their contact, substantially as described.

2. In a watchmans time-detector, the combination of a time-piece having a rotary arbor and disk mounted upon said arbor, pivoted swinging contact-lugs carried by said disk, a fixed contact-spring and an electric circuit of which the lugs and spring form electrodes, and a pivoted swinging lever adapted to be thrown into contact with the pivoted lugs, thereby throwing them to a position in which they will fail to make electrical connection with the spring, substantially as described.

In a watchmans time-detector, the cornbination of a time-piece having a rotary arbor, a disk carried by said arbor, pivoted swinging contact-lugs carried by the disk, a contact-spring, an electric circuit of which said lugs and spring forin the electrodes, and a pivoted swinging lever having a pin upon its end adapted to come in contact with the lug, and an insulated piece adapted to come in contact with the spring, whereby the lug is thrown over and the spring is raised to avoid their electrical contact, substantially as described.

4. In awatchmans time-detector, the combination of a time-piece having a rotary arbor, and a disk carried by said arbor, pivoted swinging contact-lugs carried by the disk, a contact-sprin g and an electric circuit of which the lugs and spring form electrodes, a pivoted swinging lever having its end adapted to come in contact with the lugs and spring, whereby their electrical connection is avoided, and the movable red by which the lever is operated, substantially as described.

5. In awatchmans time-detector, the combination of a time-piece having a rotating arbor and a disk carried by said arbor, pivoted swingingcontact-lugs 011 the disk, a contact-spring and limiting-pins on the disk by which said lugs are held in and out of position to come in contact with and to avoid the spring, an electric circuit of which the pivoted lugs and. the spring form electrodes, a pivoted lever adapted to come in contact with the lugs and with the spring, whereby their electrical contact is avoided, and the movable rod for operating the lever, substantially as described,

6. In a watchmans time-detector, the combination of a time-piece having a rotating arbor and a disk carried by said arbor, c011- tact-lugs on the disk, a contact-spring with which said lugs come in contact, an electric circuit of which the lugs and spring form electrodes, a pivoted lever adapted to come in contact with the lugs and with the spring; whereby their electrical contact is avoided, a second contact-spring electrically connected with the first contact-spring, and an arm 011 the lever for throwing said second contactspring into the path of the contact-lugs when. said lever is moved to avoid the contact of said lugs and first-named spring, substantially as described.

7. In a watchmans time-detector, the combination of a time-piece having a rotating arbor, a disk carried by said arbor, contactlugs on the disk, a contact-spring E, with. which said lugs come in contact, an electric circuit of which the lugs and springtorm electrodes, the pivoted lever for avoiding the contact of said lugs and spring, the pull-rod by which the lever is operated, the contactspring I, electrically connected with spring E, and the arm on the pivoted lever for throwing said spring I into the path of the lugs when the pull-rod is operated, substantially as described.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

HENRY L. NORTON. FREDERICK WV. COOK.

lVitnesses:

LINCOLN SONNTAG, S. H. NOURSE. 

